Monday, August 6, 2012

You may have guessed from my last post that there has been a bit of a Faraway Tree obsession brewing about these parts lately. This weekend we went to a very special Faraway Tree themed birthday party centred around a journey on Puffing Billy (an old restored steam train). There are quite a few steam trains throughout the books and the forest around Puffing Billy is very reminiscent of Enid Blyton's enchanted wood, so it really was a perfect setting.

All the children were invited to dress as their favourite character from the book. Minty decided to dress as Bessie. For those of you not intimately acquainted with the books, when Bessie visits the Land of Birthdays at the top of the Faraway Tree she wishes for fairy wings that could really fly. I made Minty's wings in chiffon in a simple gathered Waldorf inspired design. The skirt was a very quick freehand overlocked number. It was only about 9 degrees so Minty had to add her coat for extra warmth! Turi dressed up as one of the three bears (the children visit the three bears to help rescue Jo from the polar bears in the land of ice and snow). We borrowed a generic animal suit from a friend and paired it with his bear mask recycled from here. Turi was so excited to be wearing his costume. He kept whispering to me proudly, 'people will see me'. They really did look particularly adorable, and lots of random tourists stopped to take their picture while they were waiting for the train!

This post was getting a bit long so I've had to split it into two. Come back tomorrow for part two.

3 comments:

Love Puffing Billy. My 16 year old recently announced that she can't ever remember going on Puffing Billy so we HAVE to rectify that asap! Are you still allowed to sit with your legs dangling out the windows or has OH&S clamped down on that one?

LOVE the costumes! The Faraway Tree (the original, Non-PC versions) were my most favorite books as a child.

Minty's Great Grandma would have loved their costumes and the whole concept of the party. She loved dress ups and excursions into the Dandenongs. She organized lots of wonderful things for us when we were children. Lucky Minty & Turi that their Mum and friends are so creative.